The battle over the charges at stake of the June 2 federal election It is also released on social networks. Although some defend that the support received on the internet is real, others claim “bot manipulation”. However, specialists warn that this tension from platforms like X, (formerly Twitter), is just beginning.
Bots
According to the UNAM, the bots are a set of computer algorithms to create a real identity and to have stake in the electoral campaigns and processesffavoring or disfavoring and creating trends for candidates either matches.
This practice is used in several countries and is increasingly common for the positioning of candidates, campaigns and even events of national impact, whether true or not, such as the so-called “fake news.”
Morena, Citizen Movement and even the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has recently accused Fuerza y Corazón por Méxicothe opposition alliance of PAN, PRI and PRD, of create a series of bots for attack the president and support his presidential candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez. Even the presidential candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, denounced to the INE the alleged existence of a systematic strategy in X, to artificially increase the popularity of certain political messages.
twitching
For Hugo Sánchez Gudiño, an expert in political and social sciences, the phenomenon of social networks will be decisive in the June elections. He mentioned that politicians have turned to specialized network agencies to influence public opinion, either through bots or real citizens with political preferences.
According to what they are paid, the politician, since the agency already creates the number of robots that will be in charge of favoring the candidate who pays and waging a dirty war against the opponent, he explained.
In the case of President López Obrador, he recalled that he has been a leading political actor in the processes, so much so that at the time, he called them blessed networks, because he capitalized, in some way, on the trends that existed in these networks at his time. favor.
However, Hugo Sánchez mentioned that these networks no longer favor him, they are contrary to him, he urgently needs to try to see how he faces them, hence the proposal for his new section in the morning conference.
Accounts
Rubén Vázquez, an expert in digital strategies and professor at the FES Aragón UNAM and the Universidad Iberoamericana, explained that the bots They are most easily found on X, formerly Twitter, and use different techniques to trend news, such as using automated or semi-automated accounts that push certain messages.
When the accounts are semi-automatic, that is, there is an operator publishing behind and launching a certain trend, he indicated that it is very difficult. Above all, in other social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The worst thing about the situation, according to Rubén Vázquez, is that there is no regulation of social networks and digital platforms in the electoral process, what allows the creation of artificial trends and the use of bot farms.
If we review the General Law of Electoral Institutions and Procedures, we will realize that the last update that was made was in March 2023 and absolutely nothing about social networks was included. There is not a single mention of social networks, digital political communication, influencers, much less, he highlighted.
Resources
For the specialist, what is needed is not to regulate the networks, but rather the way in which the money that is part of the networks is invested. political campaigns. If it is public money, he indicated that it needs to be transparent, and if it is private, then electoral crimes are being committed.
The expert in digital strategies and professor at the FES Aragón UNAM mentioned that the platforms make a lot of money with the campaigns and are not obliged to report where the money being invested comes from.
He even added that there is a public ruling from the Electoral Court that arises from the 2018 presidential election, which recognizes an expenditure of 2 to 3 million pesos on bots, by José Antonio Meade's campaign to publish negative messages. about Ricardo Anaya on Google.
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